t is necessary
to use the whip as well as the whistle; by using it with severity the
officers will find that they are better obeyed, and it will in consequence
be good for the service, for fear of the whip is the principal cause of
good behaviour among the gallerians." Further on he observes that it is
well not to flog them too severely and without reason, "for this irritates
the gallerians, as I have frequently observed: this may cause them to
despair and to wish for death as the only sure way out of their troubles."
The excellent Pantera a little later on even says that he cannot agree that
the attempt to cure a sick gallerian "is all nonsense, as is maintained by
some persons," as sick men are a source of danger on board. He apparently
was not prepared to throw them overboard alive, but urges that the best way
to avoid such pestilences among them as killed forty thousand Venetians at
the port of Zara in 1570 is to embark sound and good victuals.

It is interesting to have a contemporary view of the correct treatment of
the galley slave from those who had to do with him. In the case of the
corsairs and their adversaries the gallerians were as a rule prisoners of
war, but as time went on and wars became less frequent than they were
throughout the sixteenth century, another source of supply was tapped by
sending to the galleys the criminals of any country which desired to fill
up the rowers' benches. In consequence there was always one thing which was
feared above all others on board a galley, and that was a rising of the
slaves.

If they were not your enemies officially, they were a set of desperate
criminals ripe for any mischief should they get loose, and chained,
starved, beaten, frozen with the cold, baked by the summer heats, tortured,
murdered, they had nothing earthly for which to hope except escape. If in
the heat of battle there should occur a rising of the slaves, then their
masters knew that victory would declare itself surely on the side of the
enemy. Therefore that they should be securely chained was the first and
most important thing to which the boatswain of a galley and his mates had
to see. If by a bold stroke they once freed themselves from their shackles
it was a fight to the death for those who erstwhile had been in command, as
the gallerians, outnumbering them and caring nought for their lives in
comparison to their liberties, were far the most formidable foes that they
could be called upon to enco